The old-but-new theories about human voluntary motor control

Abstract

For more than a century, neuroscientists have debated the problem of how self-generated voluntary motor actions are executed without interference from sensory information elicited by the movements. In the 1950's, two theories were proposed: the corollary discharge theory by Sperry1) and the efference copy theory by von Holst and Mittelstaedt2). They are essentially identical in proposing the necessity of specific neuronal mechanisms to suppress undesirable percepts or reflexes, both of which might disturb ongoing movements. However, this raises a simple question as to whether the control system always ignores sensory information whenever the intended movements are in progress. Here, we review recent findings and currently debated problems in corollary discharge theory.

Keywords

• corollary discharge theory
• equilibrium point hypothesis
• relativity
• brain imaging